Takedown
by PikapiPikachupi
Summary: Team Rocket have begun taking over towns and cities, with the G-Men and the Champions powerless to stop them the world must turn to a newly formed team as they work to bring down the organization. Romance will bloom and secrets will be revealed. Where is Ash though? And will they succeed?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"How the hell did it get so bad?" Lance asked angrily. The Duel Champion was pacing inside the conference room that had five other people in there. All of them were champions, but none of them felt particularly powerful at the moment. They were Steven, Cynthia, Alder, Diantha and Wes.

"It's because we were caught off guard Lance, after the other teams disbanded we thought we were safe. So when they attacked all at once we weren't ready, hell they had been planning this for years" Alder answered from the window.

"Let's not forget the fact that it's literally the six of us against the whole of Team Rocket. I would say Lance has it the easiest when he has the G-Men but having to look after two regions in bad, especially when you had to make that choice" Steven added. All of them gazed softly at Lance as he looked to the floor.

"It's in the past, there is nothing we can do about it. But what are we going to do about it, that's the question" Lance said with a mournful tone.

"Indeed you're right Lance, what are we going to do about?" A short man said entering the room. All six champions stood up to greet the man.

"Mr Goodshow" they all greeted, each shaking his hand. After this they all sat down at the table with Mr Goodshow at the top. A short silence was present until Mr Goodshow placed a folder on the table. A man walked into the conference room with six identical folders, handing one to each champion before leaving the room again. All of them looked at each other before opening the folder to read.

**_This folder is meant for League officials only, do not under any circumstances make copies or remove from the building, this report or any documents held within._**

_Team Rocket were only ever considered a criminal organization that considered mostly of pokemon theft and experimentation. They are now considered a much greater threat since the Burning of Pallet Town and their infiltration into every region._

_The Burning of Pallet Town was the first serious act commited by the team. In the late evening, witnesses reported a humming sound overheard but dismissed it as a bird pokemon. Roughly an hour later an explosion occurred at Professor Samuel Oak's Laboratory, this explosion being small only causing a meter wide hole in the wall. In the room at the time were seven teenage people, most notably was Ash Ketchum. Ash Ketchum was aged fourteen and had been responsible for preventing many of the team's plans as well as the other teams. He was reported to run after two people responsible for the explosion along with two others named Tracey Sketchit and Misty Waterflower following him. They returned ten minutes later saying that they had lost him._

_Ten minutes later, a large force of Team Rocket grunts marched into the city destroying every house they crossed using pokemon. Almost all of the casualties were killed during this while the few survivors were able to make their way towards the Lab. Once Team Rocket had made their way to the Lab, they were met by resistance from local trainers defending the families. This continued for many hours until the G-Men were finally able to respond and drive their forces away._

_Around six hudred people were killed, all of them from when the grunts were destroying buildings. The only one that did not fit this profile was a woman who was stabbed multiple times outside of Pallet Town, her name was Delia Ketchum. Only one person was reported missing, this was Ash Ketchum, his body was never found and is believed to be dead._

_After this Team Rocket were reported throughout the regions with their activities, they have managed to construct many bases and have strong footholds in many towns and cities. They have managed to keep these footholds despite any plans made by the champions and the G-Men._

Goodshow closed the folder before turning to each of the champions "Team Rocket are a threat we can no longer ignore, people are scared and it appears that we can no longer defeat them like we used to. I know that I have asked a lot from you, having to balance the League as well as Team Rocket so I want to know if you guys have any better ideas". All of the champions remained silent until Steven spoke.

"Maybe if the G-Men were given greater funds they might be more effective" He suggested.

"As much as it would be appreciated, funding isn't our problem. It's the fact that we can't respond quick enough to their threats and we are always on the defensive do we can't take the fight to them" Lance said sighing.

"Would we be able to evacuate everyone to one region which would make it easier to defend?" Diantha asked sadly.

"The evacuation process would take too long, also we wouldn't be able to decide which region we would make our stand. Not to mention that Team Rocket have infiltrated every region so no single region is safe" Mr Goodshow answered.

There was silence.

"Why don't we form a team?" Wes asked finally speaking. The man had become Champion for the newly formed Orre League since Team Cipher had been destroyed. Everyone looked at him for a moment before Cynthia spoke up.

"How would that help us?" She asked extremely curious.

"Well the G-Men's problem is that they can't respond quick enough or bring the fight to Team Rocket. If we get a group of individuals who skills can help each other, then they might just be able to turn the tables" he explained.

"That could work, I know a few people already who would be perfect and with the funding from Mr Goodshow, it might actually work" Cynthia added. All of them nodded before turning to Mr Goodshow who appeared to be thinking.

"That's the best plan we have, I want a meeting exactly one week from now at the G-Men headquarters where we will introduce these people to each other and explain their mission" He said turning to each of them, receiving a nod. "In one weeks time then..." He finished before walking out of the room with the champions.

**One week later**

"Brock, do you know why we are here?" a man asked. He was reasonably tall with auburn hair and dark viridian eyes. He wore a dark shirt, purple cargo trousers and a lab coat.

"I assume it has something to do with Team Rocket, but to what extent I do not know" He answered. Brock appeared as he usually did apart from changing the body warmer for a lab coat similar to Gary's. Brock observed the room they were in, in seemed normal but it had a large table that could easily fit twenty people, on one wall there was a large screen while on another there was a window looking out of the headquarters.

At that moment two more people walk in. "Oh this has got to be bad..." Gary said.

"What's wrong?" Dawn asked, she wore her usual outfit and had grown a few inched but still looked tiny in between Gary and Brock. Brock had also noticed who had walked in and agreed with Gary.

"Dawn, that's Sabrina the Gym Leader of Saffron City and Janine the Gym Leader of Fuchsia City. They are two of the cities Team Rocket have taken over here in Kanto" Brock whispered. Dawn looked at the two as they made their way over to them sadly nodding.

"Do you guys know why Lance summoned us?" Janine asked. She had purple hair and eyes and wore her usual ninja outfit that was similar to her fathers.

"You guys don't know?" Gary said surprised. "Not even you, Sabrina?" Sabrina wore a pink top and shoes with white trousers along with two glowing bracelets. She stared at him for a moment before answering.

"No, he sent a letter to me so I couldn't read his mind. We will just have to play this out until he tells us". They all stood there in silence until they heard the door open, turning they saw three individuals enter the room.

"Paul!" Dawn shouted then she saw the person next to him "Oh, Maylene and Iris are with him too" she added cheerfully.

"Hello Dawn" Maylene greeted hugging her.

"Hello troublesome" Paul added with a smirk. He then turned to the others "Dr Slate and Prof Oak" he said shaking their hands.

"Dawn, pleasure as always" Iris greeted.

"Do you guys know why we are here?" Gary asked them.

"Me and Paul were given a letter from Cynthia asking us to come here today" Maylene answered.

"I got one similar but it was from Alder" Iris added.

"We got one as well but it was from Lance" Dawn explained.

"You did indeed, and there is a reason for that" a new voice said. They all turned and saw Lance, Steven, Cynthia and Alder all standing in front of them. "There are a few more people to turn up but please do take a seat as they won't be long" Lance added as he took a seat. They all followed him and sat down.

Shortly afterwards three more people came into the room. One was the champion of Kalos, Diantha. The other two were a young man and woman. The man had blonde hair and wore glasses along with a blue jumpsuit. The woman wore a red skirt and shoes with a black top and knee length stockings.

"Who are they?" Paul asked Lance.

"The man I believe to be Clemont, he was the Gym Leader for Luminose City in Kalos. As for the girl..." Lance explained.

"Is that Serena?" Gary asked wide eyed.

"You know her?" Dawn asked.

"I'll explain later..." Gary whispered.

"I'm glad you could make it" Lance said as the newest arrivals sat down "Most of you will be wondering why you are here and I will explain shortly but there is just one more group we are waiting for" Lance said.

When the door opened a few minutes later, only Wes walked through into the room, his navy overcoat had a few specks of sand still on it. He walked over to the group of people and sat down on one of the empty chairs. "I'm sorry for being late, the only person I trust with this I had to talk to in person. He will be here later but he said we can proceed without him" Wes apologised.

"That's fine, like I was saying most of you will be wondering why you are here, as for Sabrina, I'm sure she has already read my mind and knows what I'm going to say" Lance said turning to her. She just nodded and grinned, which scared everyone else. "The reason you are here is that I have a proposition for you, as you are most likely aware, Team Rocket are the greatest threat we have ever faced. The champions and the G-Men simply can't defeat them by ourselves, this is where you come in. We are forming a team that will take them down, each of you have a special set of skills that makes you useful to the team. Before I continue however, if anyone doesn't want to be a part of this they may leave now and we won't hold any grudges" He paused and when nobody moved he smiled.

"Alright then, you know who we are" pointing to the six champions "But from Kanto we have Dr Brock Slate, a former Gym Leader and now a leading pokemon physician, he will be treating anyone who gets injured out in the field. Professor Gary Oak, one of our region's professors like his grandfather, he is also a strong trainer. He will be feeding you information during the missions. We also have Dawn Berlitz, his assistant and a former pokemon co-ordinator. She will be working with Gary but will also be helping any undercover missions. Sabrina is a powerful psychic and was our psychic Gym Leader until Team Rocket took over Saffron City. She will be responsible for interrogating any prisoners we have. Lastly we have Janine who was the Gym Leader in Fuchsia City, she is a fully trained ninja and will be perfect for infiltrating their bases" Lance finished. Everyone nodded and greeted them.

From Sinnoh we have Maylene the Gym Leader of Veilstone City, she is an incredible fighter and I'm hoping she will be able to train you in hand to hand combat, she will also be infiltrating any bases they have. The other person with her is Paul, Paul is an incredibly strong trainer and has been training with Maylene so he is also very capable in a fight, he will be the second fighter alongside Maylene" Cynthia said.

"From Unova we have Iris, she was raised in the Village of Dragons and is very strong trainer, her skills rival mine and I'm sure she will be as strong as Lance one day. She will be providing support with her dragon pokemon" Alder complimented.

Everyone now turned to Diantha. "From Kalos we have Clemont, he was the Luminose City's Gym Leader, however his sister has now taken over that role. He is an expert in computers and electronics and is also an excellent inventor. His main job will be hacking their systems as well as gathering data from their computers, he may also come up with machines useful for the mission. And here we have Serena, she is brilliant with disguises and so will be working mainly with covert operations. However she is also the Grand Duchess of the Battle Chateau and an incredible trainer. She will be key to any undercover missions we have" Diantha finished.

Serena blushed slightly at the praise but that disappeared when a Pikachu appeared in the room and jumped on the table. It was a seemingly normal Pikachu if you ignored the red goggles on its forehead. It looked at everyone with wide eyes before scurrying over to Wes and sitting on his lap. "So Wes, who is this person you were talking about?" Steven asked.

"I don't know his name" Wes said casually. Everyone looked at him like he was mad.

"Then how can we trust him if you don't know him, what use would he be and why would you even suggest him?" Steven asked.

"Because unlike most of you, I have experience. And because I have a greater reason than the rest of you for hating them" A voice said from the door.

Everyone turned to see a man making his way over to them. He wore black boots, cargo trousers and T-shirt finishing of the outfit with a black overcoat that had red trim. He was reasonably tall with a decent amount of muscle and had ebony black hair. However his most discernable features were his blood red eyes that literally seemed to glow. The Pikachu jumped off Wes' leg and made its way over to the man's shoulder. "I apologise for being late, as for my name, you may call me Red".

"Okay then Red, so now everyone has been introduced I will go over a few things. You will each be given a room here at headquarters and over the next few weeks you will be taught some basics and accessed. Then you will be sent out on a few missions to evaluate how well you work together before finally giving you some of the difficult missions. For now you should return home and get some clothes and other essential items and let you get used to the building. Tomorrow we will start some training" Lance finished as he and the rest of the champions walked out.

Slowly one by one they left until only Red and Clemont were left at the table. Red pulled out a small device and handed it to Pikachu. Clemont watched as the pokemon began to unscrew a few things using its tail. It then began to look at a few of the electronics. "Your Pikachu is incredible, I've never seen a pokemon take apart something with such precision" Clemont complimented.

"He is, I must admit I was quite surprised when he first showed that he could do it, he's being tinkering with things ever since" Red replied. Pikachu looked at the device puzzled before turning to Red, the pokemon tugged at a wire indicating something. "I heard you are a great with electronics as well, I don't suppose you have some wire cutters do you?" Red asked as he picked up the device.

"Actually I do" Clemont said as he began to rummage through his backpack.

"Thanks" Red said. Clemont handed them to Red who then cut the wire for Pikachu before handing the device back to the pokemon.

"What is your Pikachu making?" Clemont asked.

"Pika Pichu Pi Pikapi" the pokemon said to Red.

"He is trying to make a GPS device for me, however he seems to be lacking something" Red explained. The small mouse nodded before bringing the device over to Clemont and pointed inside the device.

"He needs a receiver but I don't have one of them sadly, sorry Pikachu" Clemont apologised.

"You could always make a requisition you know" Wes said joining the conversation "If you need something and you have a good reason then you can get them, though in your case you could use one of our GPS devices" he added.

"No thanks, if I use one of the G-Mens then Team Rocket will know exactly where I am. They managed to find the signal for your devices so they know when you are coming" Red explained. "This is why Pikachu is building one from scratch, they won't know the signal so they won't know where I am" Wes and Clemont just looked at him stunned.

"I see now why you are on the team" Clemont said surprised.

"Indeed" was all Red said. "Well I suppose I better requisition a GPS receiver, Pikachu do you want to come with me or stay here?" Red asked. Pikachu answered by giving Red the device which he had put back together before jumping on his shoulder. "I will see you tomorrow for training then" he said to Wes and Clemont and with that he was off.

"He really is incredible, isn't he" Clemont remarked.

"You've only scratched the surface" Wes answered...


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Rain poured from the sky and the wind cried as if nature itself was mourning. She looked out to the barren wasteland that had once been the peaceful Pallet Town, now nothing more than dirt and ash._

_Ash..._

_Turning she saw a large group of people stand in front of two mounds, no one sayning a word, they simply stared at the earth. They were all crying but the rain washed away their tears and made it almost impossible to tell. As she made her way slowly to them she tried not to look at the stone tablets but she couldn't help it._

**_Delia Ketchum_**

**_R.I.P_**

**_Loved by so many and will never be forgotten_**

_She felt the tears leave her eyes, the woman had always been so kind, and her cooking was something that could never be beaten. She was like her second mother, someone always happy to help, somebody who could never be replaced. She turned to the other stone tablet and felt what was left of her spirit shatter._

**_Ash Satoshi Ketchum_**

**_R.I.P_**

**_A man of selfless sacrifice who fell before his time, may the example he set guide us in our lives, present and future._**

_She heard someone cry and it set everyone off, no one was holding back anymore, she watched as even the great Lance shed tears for the boy who had saved the world many times, who had greatness thrust upon him and took it all in his stride. The kindest, sweetest and most generous boy she ever met. Ash..._

****Serena woke up breathing heavily. She sat up sharply and noticed that her cheeks were wet. 'Three years, three years and I still can't believe he's gone`. Looking at the clock, she noticed how it was three in the morning. She sighed and got out of bed being careful not to wake up her Fennekin, she made her way to the bathroom and splashed water in her face. Looking at the mirror she observed the reflection, it had been three years since that night when she was fourteen. Now seventeen she was classed as a beautiful woman by many, her soft blue eyes staring back at her while her honey hair seemed to be sticking out at some odd angles.

Deciding that she wasn't going to get anymore sleep after her nightmare she decided to go to the Gym to get some exercise before everyone began training. She grabbed a bag filled with her gym clothes before quietly making her way out of the room. She then made her way out through accommodation towards a large building next door. She walked in and noticed that some of the lights were still on 'Maybe someone forgot to turn them off` she thought before dismissing it. She got changed into a blue sports top and black shorts and decided that she would go on one of the running machines. As she walked towards where she thought they were, she found that the lights in the room were on and that someone was inside though she couldn't get a clear view. Taking a breath she walked in the room.

What she found surprised her, Red had just a red long sleeved T-shirt and blue shorts and was on one of the two running machines, that wasn't what surprised her though. The fact was he was on the highest setting and wasn't even slightly out of breath. "You know, you don't need to stare at me like that" He said casually never turning towards her.

"I wasn't staring" she said quickly getting on the other machine. She turned it on, though to a much slower speed, and started running with him.

They ran in silence for the next half an hour until Serena went off to fetch some water, when she got back he was still there, breathing slightly heavier but not by much. "How the hell do you do it?" She asked astonished.

"Do what?" He asked finally getting off the machine.

"You just ran at the top speed for over half an hour and you're not out of breath, how?"

"I don't sleep, so I spend my nights exercising, it takes my mind off things you know?" he answered looking at her curiously. "Why are you up though?" he asked. She was surprised he asked, he seemed the kind of guy who didn't care about anything.

"I couldn't sleep, bad nightmare and all that" She said quietly.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked casually, it was a tone that was questioning yet very reassuring. She remained quiet for moment before deciding it wouldn't hurt to tell him.

"It was my friend's funeral, he was killed in one of Team Rocket's first attacks. I...I miss him but his funeral still haunts me... He was the kind of guy who made everyone feel better, always helping them but he never asked for anything in return" She said softly looking at the ground. "It's the reason I joined this team" She said looking up at him, fiery determination in her eyes.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry" Red said solemnly. Serena just nodded in response.

"Why did you join though?" She asked. Red went quiet, his face twisting in a mixture of anger and hate before settling for an emotionless expression

"That's personal..." he said flatly.

"Oh okay, sorry if I offended you. Maybe another day when you're ready" She said softly. Red nodded before looking at the clock, it was only four in the morning so he still had some time to wait.

"I'm going to use the punching bag for a couple of hours, I will see you later..." He said before walking off out of the room leaving Serena alone with her thoughts.

"Something awful must have happened..." She said to herself as she looked in the direction Red had left.

**Later in the day**

All eleven of them now stood in front of Lance, they all remained silent though wishing they could have had their breakfast, however Lance said this was urgent and that they could wait until dinner to eat. "Alright as I mentioned yesterday, each of you will have a role within the team so your training might be different to everyone else's. However the Champions and I have all decided which role you will each be. Clemont, Gary, Brock, and Dawn, you will all be taught how to hack equipment as well as being able to use some of our more sophisticated hardware, especially you Brock who we will show how to work all of our specialist medical equipment. Iris, Maylene, Paul and Sabrina, you will be our main fighters so you will all need to be taught how to fight as well as training your pokemon to almost incredible levels. Most of this won't be new to you but we need to make sure that your skills are perfect. Serena, Janine and Red, you will be our infiltrators and thus our first point of attack. You will all be taught stealth as well as a mixture of the other two" Lance said to them, they all nodded in understanding. "You will all have your own instructors who will be teaching these skills as well as accessing you, you will report to them from now on, if you have any more questions you can ask them. Do you understand?" They again began to nod in understanding before walking off in their different groups towards where their handlers were.

Serena, Janine and Red walked through the corridors towards the training room that was on base. Serena and Janine walked together with Red following them. "Who do you reckon our handler is?" Serena asked Janine.

"I don't know Serena, but I'm looking forward to seeing who it is and learning anything from them" Janine answered. Serena looked at Janine stunned.

"I heard you're a ninja though, I thought you would know everything there is about stealth" She exclaimed. Janine chuckled when she heard this.

"Haha, yeah well sure we're good at hiding from people but when it comes to breaking and entering as well as other things we don't know that much, besides I was a Gym Leader so I mainly know stuff about pokemon" Janine explained. Serena thought for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah I suppose I can understand that" she said.

They found the training room and walked in. In the middle stood a medium sized man with teal hair and dark eyes, he would appear to be a young man if you ignored a few grey hairs. He wore a ninja outfit similar to Janine's but he had steel shin guards as well. "Father!" Janine exclaimed running over to hug the man.

"Hello Janine, I'm happy to see you too" The man exclaimed hugging his daughter. They split apart after a few moments.

"I assume you are our handler then". Janine said filled with excitement, she hadn't seen him since they lost Fuchsia City. He nodded in response.

"Master Koga, I expected no less than the best" Red said bowing politely to the man.

"Thank you Red, I am looking forward to working with you" Koga said returning the bow. "And you must be Serena, a pleasure to meet you"

"The pleasure is mine" Serena said bowing.

"Now as Lance has most likely told you, I will be teaching you the art of stealth, hand to hand combat and other skills. This is because your jobs will be to sneak in to their bases, defeat large numbers of them silently as well as take out high valued targets. However before we do this we must sought out your outfits, it is important what you wear as it can affect how easy you are to find, also we will give you some gadgets as well but that will be for another day" The three looked at each other before turning back to Koga. "Janine, our ninja outfits are fine, however on your missions you must wear the hood to cover your face. It is important to keep your face hidden or you may put the clan in danger. As for Serena and Red, come with me and we will sort your outfits out"

After an hour, Serena and Red had their outfits sorted. Serena wore a black tank top, black jeans with black knee high boots, with this she wore a black sleeveless hoodie where the hood stopped anyone from seeing above her cheeks. "This outfit is more modern compared to the other two for a reason, out of the three, you can blend into the public easiest and so shouldn't have too much problem negotiating crowds. The hood will cover your face so you won't be recognised but you will appear less intimidating than the others, this is because you are the one who will be talking to others like the other two groups." Koga explained.

"Can I ask why me and not your daughter?" Serena asked.

"My daughter is recognised across many regions due to being a Gym Leader and my daughter, because of this her voice will be recognised instantly. Although you are a Grand Duchess of the Battle Chateau, Kalos figures generally aren't know in other regions and not many people have seen you battle" Koga explained. Serena nodded understanding his reasons.

The three of them then turned to Red. He wore a black T-shirt, black cargo trousers and black boots the same as before, however he wore a black trench coat made of heavy cotton that had a hood. A black scarf covered the lower half of his face, combined with the hood meant that only his glowing red eyes could be seen making him look very much like a demon. He also wore black fingerless gloves made of leather. "Your outfit Red is designed to make you look intimidating as well as having plenty of space in your coat to store things." Koga stated. Red nodded before pulling the hood and scarf up to conceal his face, Serena pulled her hood up and Janine put her hood on. "Good, it is now impossible to tell who each of you are. If you follow me, I will now evaluate your pokemon."

"I thinks it's best if we don't show our faces to the G-men or anyone other than the Champions or our team" Red said as they made their way towards one of the stadiums.

"Why?" Serena asked curiously.

"It's best in case any Rocket spies are here, also it will mean people will leave us alone if they have no idea who we are" he explained.

"That makes sense, I don't want to put the clan in danger" Janine added. Serena thought about this for a bit, she definitely didn't want to put her mother at risk.

"Wouldn't the clan already be in danger if your father is working for the G-Men?" She asked.

"No, he and the clan decided that if they apparently exiled him from the clan for joining the G-Men then Team Rocket would not attack them, though secretly he is still a part of it. So far this has worked however Team Rocket aren't dumb, if I start working for the G-Men as well then they will definitely attack" Janine explained with a hint of worry.

"Don't worry Janine, the clan will be fine" Koga said reassuring her. "Anyway we have arrived" he announced as they walked through a pair of doors. There in front of them, was a standard pokemon stadium with the field in the middle. The stands around it were empty except for a small yellow mouse with red goggles who was lying peacefully on one of the front row seats. However once noticing its trainer, it jumped off and ran towards him, eventually settling by his feet.

"Okay if each of you could release your pokemon to be inspected, Janine we will start with you" Koga announced. Janine took the four pokeballs at her belt before releasing the pokemon inside. In front of her was an Ariados, a Weezing, a Venomoth and lastly her Crobat. "I see you have been taking good care of your pokemon" Koga said smiling as he inspected them closely. "Okay, although your pokemon are well trained even for a Gym Leader, you lack the variety of their types so we should try and catch you a new one at some point" he recommended which she appeared happy about.

"Now for you Miss Serena" Koga stated. Serena released her six pokemon which were a Fennekin, an Absol, a Gallade, a Rhyhorn, an Aurorus and a Sylveon. "Impressive team Miss Serena, a couple of these pokemon I have never seen before" He said as began to inspect them though he looked at Sylveon and Aurorus a bit longer. "Your team is well treated which I should expect from someone who became Grand Duchess and you have some good variation so it seems you don't need any improving with your pokemon" Koga finished. Serena smiled when she heard this.

"Okay Red, would you please show me your pokemon?" Koga asked. Red remained silent for a moment before grabbing pokeballs from the inside of his coat and releasing them. He released the largest Charizard they had ever seen, a Sceptile, Infernape, Zoroark, Lucario, Greninja, Garchomp, Houndoom, Rapidash, Tyranitar and a shiny Gardevoir with Pikachu making in total twelve pokemon. Houndoom growled at the three humans while standing in front of Red protectively. "Do not worry Houndoom, they won't harm us" Red reassured the pokemon. Houndoom continued to glare at the three humans before walking and sitting by its master's side. Gardevoir looked at them cautiously before turning to Red, she looked at his new outfit with curiosity before moving closer to him and placing her hand on his head. "I am fine Grace, you don't need to worry about me" Red said softly. Grace smiled before checking on Pikachu.

"Wow, a shiny Gardevoir, she's beautiful..." Serena whispered amazed. Grace blushed at the compliment.

"You think that's cool, check it out, a ninja pokemon" Janine also screamed with enjoyment as she stared at the blue frog.

"These are some incredible pokemon Red, I have never seen pokemon so strong, you could even give the champions a run for their money" Koga said before taking a step forward. All of them turned and glared at him, especially Houndoom who growled. "Don't worry guys, he just wants to check if you are in top condition, if you want Pikachu can go first" Red said to his pokemon. They watched Pikachu as he walked up to Koga before letting the ninja master inspect everything from his tail to the goggles on his forehead.

"May I ask why your Pikachu has goggles?" Koga asked.

"He likes to build devices and stuff, so I let him so long as he puts his goggles on, you wouldn't believe how long it takes to get oil out of his eyes. Also they're quite handy for when we ride Rapidash" Red explained before stroking Rapidash's nose.

"I see" Koga said before moving towards Red's Charizard, the lizard pokemon looked at the man before bowing his head so Koga could pet him. Once Charizard had let the man inspect him, the rest of them allowed him too except for Grace and Houndoom, Grace stood behind Red while Houndoom just glared. "I'm sorry about these two, they have had some extremely bad meetings with humans and don't trust any of them except for me" Red explained "I can promise you that these pokemon are fine and healthy and more than a match for any of your pokemon".

"Hmm okay then, can I ask something about your Lucario though, why is its chest black instead of the usual cream colour?"

"Its aura is different from the usual kind" Red explained. Lucario nodded at Koga, showing that he was telling the truth.

"Interesting, well your pokemon are in perfect shape and I don't need to battle you to know you are an incredible trainer. We are done for today however I have some tips, first try not to talk to the G-Men as they will most likely think you have threats, secondly only train your pokemon is this stadium when no one is looking, finally make sure that none of your identities leave this team" The three nodded "Well you can leave, I recommend getting some food now as it will be a busy day tomorrow" Koga recommended. He then walked off leaving the trio alone.

Janine and Serena returned their pokemon before turning to Red, he seemed to be communicating with his Lucario and Gardevoir though none of them said a word. After a few minutes he returned his pokemon except for Pikachu who climbed onto his shoulder. "Shall we get food then?" He asked them, they nodded and the three made their way to the canteen.

**With Koga**

Koga made his through the corridors until he reached Lance's office, he knocked twice before walking in. He found Lance and Wes talking to each other about the history of Team Rocket but stopped when Koga walked in. "May I speak with you two?" he asked politely. They nodded and all three of them sat down.

"What is it you want to talk about Koga?" Lance asked.

"How much do you know about Red?" Koga asked Lance.

"I only know his name and that he has experience with Teams" Lance answered.

"And you?" Koga asked turning to Wes. Wes shuffled in his seat before speaking.

"I don't know much about him, he never talked about his past much and I only know about his pokemon"

"Then why did you recommend him?"

"While I know very little about him, I have seen him in action. When I first saw him he was bloody, beaten and exhausted. It was late at night and he needed looking after. This didn't surprise me that much as this was before Team Cipher was defeated. What surprised was the fact that he didn't have a single pokemon on him at the time. My girlfriend and I helped him out by giving him food and stuff but he didn't talk much, he looked like he had been though hell and back so we never asked. Anyway a couple of days later he disappeared with some of our money so we thought we had been scammed, however he came back the next day with five pokemon and explained that he had gone to get his pokemon and that he was sorry he took our money without asking. We said that it was alright understanding why he did it and asked that he told us the next time he would try something like that" Wes paused so they could take this information in. "He then began to help us out round the house such as helping with cooking and feeding our pokemon when we were busy, all while training his pokemon at night" Wes smiled remembering all the little thing until his smile disappeared "then one day Team Cipher tried to attack the town I lived in. Their first target was Rui because she has minor psychic powers, however Red just destroyed their pokemon before beating them to a pulp just to protect her. We then together began to destroy Team Ciphers plans and bases but Red had no mercy. Unless Rui was with us he would destroy them and then fight them until they couldn't stand. Once we finally got to their main HQ, it was same old same old until we met with the boss, we took down his pokemon but he came at me with a knife he had hidden. I was unprepared so he would have killed me had Red not grabbed him and thrown him out of the window, he died from the fall. Then the League came and took over and Orre has been fine since, that is if you ignore Team Rocket. But after that Red left vowing that he would destroy Team Rocket, I guess he's been doing that since" Wes finished.

"When was this roughly?" Koga asked.

"Just over a year since Team Rocket began to strike or more precisely, around a year and half after Pallet Town" Wes answered. Koga thought for a moment before smiling. "What you thinking?" Wes asked.

"Well I observed that he has a special connection with his pokemon and that his pokemon were incredibly strong. If he trains them every night then I'm not surprised, though his Lucario was a curious case"

"How so?" Lance asked.

"Well his Lucario had a unique colouring where its chest was black not cream and it wasn't the shiny version. Apparently it had something to do with the pokemon's aura and how it was different to usual" Koga explained.

"Don't Lucarios reflect the aura of their trainers?" Wes asked curiously. They all sat their thinking until Lance stood up.

"I will research about this and will inform you if I find anything interesting but we should carry on with their training" Wes and Koga nodded in response and they left the office to get food.

**Back with Red**

Red, Serena and Janine sat at one of the tables near the back of the canteen. The place was empty apart from the three and Pikachu who was currently under the table munching on some chips. They sat their quietly eating, Janine and Serena still had their hoods up but Red had to lower his scarf so he could eat meaning people could see his mouth and cheeks. Eventually Janine spoke up. "Seeing as we are trying to keep our identities a secret, should we have codenames?"

"That would make sense, I'm guessing Red isn't actually his first name is it?" Red shook his head before returning to his food. "Well yours could be Whisper, you know because you're a silent ninja and all that" Serena suggested.

"Yeah, I am loving the name" Janine answered cheerfully before looking at Serena "But what should yours be?" The two sat their pondering until Red spoke up.

"Why not Siren? She looks good in that outfit so she's likely to get quite a bit of attraction but she will eventually be able to defeat anybody in a battle" He said before returning to his food. Serena blushed at the compliment even if he didn't realise it, Janine thought about the name itself so didn't see her blush. "Yeah it would work for you nicely, okay then our codenames are Whisper, Siren and Red" She smiled as she ate her food.

They continued to eat until Red was finished, he pulled his scarf back up just in time as the G-Men began to arrive for their food. As they got to their tables they stared at the three darkly dressed individuals at the back. Red could hear them murmuring about them and watched every single person to see what they were going to do. He was thankful that they all sat down and ate their food, right up until this one guy, heavily built, stared at them before marching over. "So who the hell are you three?" He asked sternly. All three stared at him until Serena spoke up.

"None of your business" she said dismissively. The man looked at her before snarling.

"Uh huh, well to me it looks like we have three dangerous individuals on base, possibly Rocket grunts so I'll need to deal with you three" He said aggressively rolling up his sleeves.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you" Serena said taking another bite of her food.

"Oh what you going to do honey, squeal like a little girl, go make me a sandwich" He said earning a few cheers from his fellow grunts. Janine and Serena stared at him like he was a monster until they heard a snapping sound behind them. They turned to see a fork broken in half and Pikachu shaking his hands and head at Red.

"Red are you okay?" Serena asked concerned. He just remained silent looking at Pikachu.

"Oh is he your boyfriend?" the man asked mockingly "And his only pokemon is that measily rat" he began laughing. They heard Pikachu sigh, the mouse getting up, walking over to them and sitting on Serena's Lap. Red got up from his chair slowly and walked over to the man. He stood a metre away from him silently, his red eyes merely gazing at the man. "What do you want pumpkin, did I make you angry?" Red simply put one finger up before making a fist and smashing his hand into the palm of the other. "Oh you want to punch me?" the man smirked. He turned to the men "The guy wants to punch me because I upset his feelings" He announced which got a few chuckles the crowd.

"Smash the Rocket's head in Stu" One of them shouted.

"You've not lost a fight yet" Another shouted. Stu just smirked before turning back to the Red.

"Because I'm feeling nice, I'm going to give you one free punch before I destroy you. Then your girlfriend is going to make me a sandwich" Stu mocked. What followed next surprised everyone, Red pulled back his hand as his right fist developed a red aura around it, he then punched Stu in the ribs once. A loud cracking sound could be heard throughout the canteen on contact and he was launched in the air before landing a few metres away on the exact same ribs that had been punched making another cracking sound, everyone simply stared stunned at Stu as he screamed out in pain. Eventually they turned to Red but he was calmly walking out of the canteen followed by Pikachu.

"Did his hand just glow?" Serena asked an equally stunned Janine...


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Okay, let me get this straight. You were sitting here happily when the G-Men came in, this very large grunt comes over and threatens the three of you, particularly Serena? And then he made fun of Red and his Pikachu so Red walks up to him and punches him with a red glowing hand once which somehow made him fly six metres and broke four of the guy's ribs?"

"Pretty much..." Janine answered.

"I like this guy" Paul said smirking.

The rest of the group had arrived a few minutes after the incident to find medics crowding around someone on the floor, all the G-Men backed up away from two people who looked like they hang out in the shadows. Immediately all of them left leaving just the group alone with the two people to gossip about the recent incident.

"Paul you shouldn't say that, Red broke one of the G-Men, you know the guys who are meant to be on our team?" Dawn scolded.

"I'm sorry Dawn but I'm siding with Paul on this one, some of the things he said were plain out of order and I'm glad Red put him in his place. But you said his hand was glowing?" Maylene said joining the conversation after munching down her food, Janine nodded.

"It was like his hand was on fire and it was the exact same colour as his eyes I swear" she added. "What do you reckon it was?" She asked Paul.

"I've never heard of anything like it, what about you Sabrina? Have you heard of anything like it?" Paul asked turning to the women who had finished her noodles. Sabrina remained silent for a moment before answering.

"His hand being on fire I could explain as being aura, however the fact that you said it was blood red is unusual. Aura is normally a light blue, even those who have turned into dark aura users would be a navy almost purple colour, but Red is a unique colour for it." She explained clearly not liking the fact she didn't know. "Did anything happen beforehand?"

"No, Serena and I were just coming up with codenames when the G-Men arrived. Oh that reminds me, unless we are alone or with Lance then you must call us by our codenames. Mine is Whisper and Serena's is Siren" Janine added.

"Siren is a cool name, did you come up with it Serena?" Maylene asked but she got no answer. Serena had been sitting next to them and had not said a word. "Serena?" Maylene asked worried. Serena just stood up and left the table heading out of the same doors Red had earlier.

"Gary, how do you know Serena?" Dawn asked inquisitively. Gary remained silent a few seconds before speaking up.

"I know her because of Ash" he said quietly. And the room went silent. They had all known or heard of him so his death had been hard on all of them. Even the cold and emotionless Paul couldn't help but feel down whenever his name was used. "We were eight at the time and were on one of my grandfather's camps. You know to teach young children how to treat and look after pokemon. Anyway there was this one girl who was incredibly shy, she had just moved to Pallet and nobody really spoke to her. We were all sent on a treasure hunt to find this random assortment of things. I obviously finished first and was going to rub it in Ashy-Boy's face but when I got back I found him talking to the new girl. Turns out Ashy-Boy had found her injured out in the woods and had helped her back, he would have won the hunt as well but that isn't his style." They all nodded in response. "They became really close friends, closer than he has been with anyone else, even his mother. Sadly a year later Serena moved away and Ash was heartbroken, even I knew not to make fun of him about it"

"They were that close, even closer than him and Misty?" Brock asked. Gary just nodded.

"What do you reckon would have happened if you had made fun of him?" Janine asked. Gary had a dark smile on his face when he heard this.

"I know what would have happened, there was this kid who had moved shortly before she left and was clearly trying to upset Ash to try and make himself more popular among the rest of us. Since Serena and Leaf had left us and me being who I was back then as well as his father leaving him a few years before meant that Ash was pretty lonely" Gary explained. "Anyway this kid started making fun of Ash about how his father had left him because he didn't love Ash"

"That's so cruel!" Dawn exclaimed, Gary just sighed when he heard this.

"No the cruel thing was that none of us defended him, Ash just took all this like it was nothing. But then he moved on and started talking about Serena and how she never liked him. Ash went silent for a second before he had this dark look, I've only ever seen it once and it was then when Ash launched himself at the kid before punching him in the face giving him a nosebleed. I literally had to drag Ash off the kid so he couldn't hit him again." Gary paused to look at their faces. Everyone looked stunned, Ash the most kindest person they ever knew, had once punched a kid for making fun of someone. "That was the last time anyone mentioned Serena, Ash just couldn't handle it afterwards. The kid moved away, Ash tried to forget and our lives went on. It was the last I heard of her" Gary finished.

"They were that close?" Dawn asked quietly, Gary nodded in response.

"That's not all though..." Clemont said making everyone turn to him, they looked at him for a bit only for Sabrina to gasp next to them.

"You're kidding me?!" she asked Clemont stunned. Clemont just shook his head.

"While you may have heard that Ash had gone to Kalos, I doubt you knew what happened during his journey" he explained.

"No Ash was going to tell us, but then...you know..." Brock said quietly. A short silence fell upon them.

"What happened?" Janine asked not knowing the full details.

"He was going to tell us when he got to Pallet Town but it was interrupted by Team Rocket's attack on Pallet Town" Gary explained. "What happened in Kalos?" Gary asked,

"Ash had been travelling with me, my sister and Serena" Clemont announced.

"Wait, you had been travelling with Ash?" Dawn asked surprised. Clemont nodded in response.

"Wait, Ash travelled with Serena? What were they like?" Gary asked quickly.

"At first he couldn't remember her until she brought out a handkerchief he had given her which she kept all the years they had been parted. After that Ash and Serena became incredibly close, they talked about everything, did everything together. They were incredibly cute with them even sharing food sometimes"

"Woah hold up, Ash shared food with someone? He never shared food with anyone" Paul said surprised.

"Yeah he even let her have the biggest half." They just looked at him stunned. "Then when the holidays came up Ash and Serena had to go back home but we agreed we would meet up after the holidays. Ash gave Serena the handkerchief back saying that he promised he'd come back for it" He stopped and they all realised where this was going. "He never did come back for it, we never finished our journey. Bonnie, my sister, cried for days afterwards. But Serena, she refuses to believe he's dead and that if she becomes the best trainer then Ash will come back to battle her someday..." Clemont finished sadly.

"She loved him didn't she" Dawn asked, a couple of tears in her eyes.

"Still does to this day, I pray to Arceus that she will one day recover. But I pray to all the legendaries though that Ash will come back to us..." They all nodded sadly. They all agreed with him but at the moment their thoughts were on Serena, and her feelings for Ash.

**With Serena**

Serena made her way through the corridors towards Red's room, she was determined to get answers from him and she wasn't going to take no for an answer. Once she was at his door she knocked on the doors three times before taking a step back. She was rather surprised however when his Lucario opened the door, they stared at each other for a moment before she spoke up. "I need to speak to Red" She said sternly.

"_I'm sorry but my master cannot talk to people at the moment_" Serena looked stunned for a moment before realizing he was speaking through his aura.

"I have to speak to him" She said a bit more desparetely.

"_I'm sorry but you..._"

'_Oh for Arceus sake just let her in Lou, I need you to take away this aura before he hurts someone and she was going to find out anyway` _A voice spoke to them. Lucario just sighed.

"_Fine but it's on you_" He then begrudgingly let Serena in. Lucario made his way into the room that Red was in. When Serena walked into the same room she gasped. Red had the sleeve on his right arm rolled up to his elbows so she could see his arm. His right arm up to his elbow was black and crackled like it had been left in a fire. She watched stunned as Grace who was standing next to Red with her hand on his head sent pink pulses into Red while his Lucario seemed to be absorbing a red aura from Red's hand. She saw how as this went on, the black crackling slowly faded from his hand until all that was left was a normal looking arm and two very unhappy looking pokemon.

"What was that?" She asked stunned. Red looked at her from under his hood, he still had it and the scarf up so she could only see his eyes.

"My gift and my curse..." Was all he replied with.

* * *

**A.N: I have some serious exams coming up over the next month so I wont be posting another chapter for a while. However once these are all done I will carry on with this story so don't worry if I disappear, this story will be finished.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Moments passed between them and not a word was spoken. She stood there looking at his glowing eyes, then to his right arm, then back to his eyes. While she had a variety of emotions on her face ranging from terror to surprise to curiosity, the only impression you got from him was indifference, as if it was an everyday occurrence. His two pokemon stood at his side, checking to see that his arm was completely fine before stopping to see if the other human was okay.

The silence between them was eventually broken by a sleepy yellow mouse emerging from the bedroom. "Pi?" Pikachu said confused, partly due to why Gardevoir and Lucario were out but mainly because why Serena was in the room as well.

"Oh hey Pikachu, sorry if we woke you up" Red apologised. Hearing Red's voice shook Serena out of her trance.

"Wait a sec, you didn't explain was that red...stuff was" Serena said mildly frustrated at the fact he hadn't answered her question properly. Red just sighed while his three pokemon made their way to the kitchen. Grace began to get some cooking utensils out while Lucario and Pikachu just started snacking

"I guess I owe you an explanation, however you cannot tell anyone else not even Janine though she'll find out eventually" She nodded before he continued. "That was aura, the life force of every living thing. I have the power to wield it" Red explained though she got the impression that he was holding something back.

"Okay that answers most of my questions but if that was aura, then why was it red?" Serena asked. Red tensed and she noticed that his pokemon had as well. She saw that his fists were clenched and she could almost hear a growl coming from his Lucario. "Personal by any chance?" She asked softly realising she might have crossed the line. Red just nodded slowly, realising this was her point to leave she stood up and made her way to the door. "I appreciate you sharing that with me, and don't worry I won't tell anyone" She said before exiting the room, leaving Red and his pokemon to think over what had happened.

'I wish he would open up, I just want to help him` She thought.

'I wish I could tell her, I wish things were the same...`

* * *

A month passed of intense training for the newly formed squad. The three groups were split up because of their training with Dawn, Gary, Brock and Clemont on base at all times. Iris, Paul, Maylene and Sabrina were taken by Lance about halfway up Mt Silver to strengthen both them and their pokemon. Serena, Janine and Red however, nobody knew where they had gone. After Red's incident they had been transferred instantly away from the base. Today was the day that the fighters would be coming back from their training.

"It feels like ages since we last saw them" Dawn spoke to the other three.

"Dawn, it's only be a month since we saw them" Brock replied.

"I know, but with all the training it feels like it's been years" she added.

"Well wait no longer, they're here" Gary spoke getting their attention. They all turned to see a large truck making its way to the entrance, it stopped at a checkpoint where the driver handed papers over to a man standing there. The man checked the papers before handing them back to the driver and the truck carried on into the headquarters. The truck stopped inside the garage where they were waiting, the driver got out and walked off somewhere leaving the group of four to see five people jump out of the back.

Lance appeared as he always did with his cape flowing behind him. The next to appear were Paul and Maylene, Maylene looked like she always did as she did this kind of training constantly, Paul appeared to have gained a lot of muscle along with a few cuts but remained the same old Paul. Sabrina was out next and looked quite worn out, her hair was slightly out of place but she appeared more toned than before. However when Iris came out Dawn and the boys had to suppress their laughter when they saw her, her hair was everywhere and she looked like she hadn't slept once in the last month.

"Hey Iris, how was it?" Dawn asked grinning.

"Just don't..." She mumbled before hugging Dawn. "It was horrible, ice was just everywhere, like a white nightmare that would never end"

"I thought it was brilliant" Maylene said joining the conversation.

"Of course you would, it's all you basically do in your life" Iris moaned.

"Oh come on it wasn't that bad" Maylene said winking at Iris.

"You didn't have to train dragon pokemon...In a blizzard!" Iris complained loudly.

"I thought you wanted to be a Dragon Master" Lance spoke which silenced her. Dawn couldn't hold her laugh anymore and began to giggle uncontrollably. Lance smiled before continuing "You will need to get over you fear for the cold if you truly want to become one, and you know it gets results" He finished.

"Oh yeah Dawn guess what, Axew evolved!" Iris said excitedly holding Dawn out at an arm's length suddenly brimming with energy.

"Oh my god really?" Dawn asked joining her excitement.

"Yeah he evolved into a Fraxure about a week ago" she explained.

"That's great Iris, I'm impressed" Brock added joining the conversation.

"Thanks Brock" Iris said grinning.

"I think the others are coming as well" Clemont said suddenly getting everyone's attention. They all turned back to see another truck making its way up the road towards the checkpoint. Like the previous one the driver handed some papers over to the man, however they all saw the shocked expression on his face when he read them. He immediately began talking into a phone before handing the papers back to the driver.

"Yeah, they're back" Lance said in a monotone voice.

"They still don't trust him do they?" Dawn asked. Lance just shook his head in response. He turned to see multiple G-Men making their way to where the truck had now stopped. The group then observed Koga as well as Janine and Serena silently jump out of the truck and make their way over to them.

Then Red jumped out of the back...

Each one of the G-Men tensed when a loud thud resounded as Red's combat boots hit the floor in the complete opposite fashion to the previous three. His cold red eyes met with each of the G-Men causing them to tense even more. Silence was present between them, until Red began to make his way towards the group.

"Halt, I sorry but I must ask you to remain here sir" one of them said. Red turned to him slowly never blinking, he noticed the man to be an admin for the G-Men.

"I'm afraid I must decline" He said receiving puzzled expressions from the G-Men. Was this really the same guy who had put one of them in hospital for three weeks just for insulting him?

"I...uuh...ummm..." He stuttered intelligently.

"I'm going now as I need to talk to Sabrina, so unless you want to deal with both me and one of the most powerful psychics in the world I would recommend telling your superiors that I was able to avoid you" Red stated before walking off towards the group. "Sabrina may I have a word?" He asked politely.

"Red are you sure that's wise?" Koga asked concerned.

"Either I tell her or she plucks it from your mind" Red said before walking off with Sabrina in tow.

Everyone left to go back to their rooms, grabbing their bags from the back of the trucks while Janine took Sabrina's as well leaving Koga and Lance alone. They waited until everyone had left before speaking.

"So Koga, would you explain where your group went off to so suddenly?" Lance asked.

"Of course, but you may not like it..." Koga said cryptically.

**With Red and Sabrina**

Red and Sabrina were currently standing in the middle of the stadium by themselves. Pikachu was sleeping near the stands.

"So Red, what is it you want to talk about?" Sabrina asked.

"Well I'm sure you're curious as to where we've been seeing as you haven't read anyone's mind" Red began.

"How do you know that?" she asked puzzled.

"Well you haven't had a small freak out so..."

"Huh?" Red smiled at her dumbstruck expression even if she couldn't see it. He sighed before continuing.

"For the last month we've been training in Saffron City..." he said slowly, and he could hear her grinding her teeth.

"Explain...now..." she growled at him.

_Flashback_

_One month ago..._

_Red was making his way through the corridors towards the training room as per Koga's orders. He opened the door where Koga, Serena and Janine were standing. "You summoned me Koga?"_

_"__Yes, come in Red. Due to your incident with the G-Men, Lance has decided that most of you will be trained off base. However I will not be telling anyone where we are going and I have a reason for it. This is because our group will be training in Saffron City" Koga announced. Janine and Serena were alarmed as soon as they heard this._

_"__We're what?! Father have you gone insane?" Janine screamed at him._

_ "__No Janine I am perfectly sane, it is the best place for you guys to learn your skills" He said calmly._

_"__But it's Saffron City, The heart of their operations!"_

_"__Indeed which is why they would not expect us to be training there, besides what I will be teaching you, it will be better to practise on your enemies than on your friends. It will be a trial by fire" he said. Nobody noticed Red flinch slightly at his last sentence. "Besides I will be here to help you should you require it" Janine calmed down slightly when she heard this though the look of worry never left her face._

_"__When do we leave?" Red asked._

_"__Tonight" was Koga's reply._

_Flashback End_

"We left that night and were able to enter the city undetected. Koga taught us how to steal, sneak and infiltrate. He taught us how to pick up rumours and to get information without leaving a trace, which is when I came across something interesting..."

_Flashback_

_Red was sitting in a bar listening in on a conversation between two grunts who had far too much to drink._

_"__Did...you hear about the pokemon...in the lab?" One of them asked the other._

_"__No...what about...it?" The other slurred._

_"__It belonged to Sabrina...you know the Gym Leader...Heard it was her prized Alakazam..."_

_"__Are they torturing it?" The other asked surprised._

_"__No they couldn't get the pokeball for it open...I hear they...hic...gonna force it open so they can torture it for fun. Nobody's allowed near it until then and they have patrols everywhere, poor things gonna be in for a world of pain..." He laughed along with the other grunt._

_Flashback End_

A tear formed in the corner of her eye as she looked at the floor. When she wiped it away, pure hatred filled her eyes as she glared at Red. "Why the fuck are you telling me this?!" She screamed at him waking Pikachu up. The mouse ran in front of Red to protect him but Red just waved it off. "Do you get some sick satisfaction on the fact I had to leave my pokemon behind when we had to flee the city? Huh?! Are you that fucking heartless?!" Her eyes glowed purple as she prepared to throw him into the walls with her powers.

"Guys Lance want us in his office, he has a mission for us and...uh oh" Iris called to them before realising how tense things were.

"We will be right there" Red said addressing her so she could leave before turning towards Sabrina, a dark look in his eye. "First I always have a reason for saying anything. Secondly...Don't...Ever...Call me heartless" He growled before walking away. However as he turned he threw something at Sabrina which she caught. "You're welcome..." He said as he and Pikachu left the room. She looked at the pokeball in her hands with a shocked expression before following his footsteps.

**Lance's Office**

Everyone turned to see Red walk into the room and settle in the corner before Sabrina walked in looking slightly distracted. "Sabrina, are you okay?" Brock asked.

"Yes, oh I'm fine, better than fine but anyways. What's this about a mission Lance?" Sabrina said distracting them and turning their attention towards Lance. Serena gave a questioning look to Red but he just shook his head.

"Yes, as you know I have a mission for you. We have been observing a small Rocket base on top of Mount Moon. It's a small base with low security that they have probably been using to store and archive information. We want to see what they've but haven't had any spare man power to do it. This will be your first mission where we will be assessing you and your teamwork, understand?" He received nods from all of them. "You will be leaving in two hours so get your equipment ready" Lance ordered and they filed out. As they left Sabrina held Red back for a bit before speaking.

"Is the Gym okay, how are the people?" She asked quietly.

"Your Gym is fine though no one goes near it anymore. As for the people, they look forward to seeing you return, let's not cause any delays by just standing here and not preparing for our next mission" She nodded and they walked off to get their equipment.

* * *

**On Mount Moon**

Serena looked through the binoculars at the Rocket base. It was around midnight and the clouds prevented any moonlight from shining. She could see a few guards walking along the perimeter with flashlights as well as a large spotlight mounted on a tower. There were a couple of small buildings, one being the barracks while another was likely where they ate their food. The only other building was a medium sized one where they kept the servers in, their target. She turned towards Red and Janine who were also looking at the base. "What's your opinion on it?" She asked them.

"There's not much security which is good, the ladder leading up to the spotlight will be manned but they can be easily disabled. From there it's a straight run across the barrack's roof and I'll be at the main building." Janine answered. They both looked at Red.

"You'll probably need to take out the men in the barracks to be undetected your Venomoth's Sleep Powder through the vents will do. We can avoid the patrols if we move in fifthteen minutes when they go round the back but the office will most likely be alarmed. If we go in and all goes to plan we can be back out in the same amount of time" He said. They nodded at him and the three made their way back towards the group. They relayed this information to Koga as he and Lance discussed the plan.

"Okay people listen up. The plan is that Clemont will come with the infiltration team and sneak into the base. He'll be hacking their servers and gathering the information we need while the rest of the hackers will be disabling their alarms from here. Iris, the clouds will provide you cover so you will be providing overwatch, the rest of the combat squad will form a perimeter to prevent any reinforcements until it's complete. Siren, you'll be with Clemont at all times to make sure he completes the job. Whisper and Red, you already know what you need to do, we move in ten minutes" Lance explained. Iris got onto her Dragonite and took to the sky using the clouds as cover. Paul, Sabrina and Maylene began to circle around the base a good distance away so that they weren't spotted. Dawn, Gary and Brock got into the back of the van they travelled here in and began to type away at their computers. Clemont, Serena, Janine and Red made their way behind a push and waited until the next patrol went past a section in the fence.

As they waited Clemont turned to Red. "Red, won't Team Rocket be able to detect where we are due to them knowing our frequency?" He asked as he fiddled with an ear piece. Red shook his head before replying.

"No they won't, during out month training I had left Pikachu in the care of Wes and the two of them have managed to fix the problem using something called binary encryption or something along those lines"

"Oh...That's clever" Clemont said turning back to the section in the fence. He watched as three grunts made their way past it and turned the corner.

"Let's move" Red said and the group snuck up to the fence. Clemont handed a pair of clippers to Janine who started to cut through the fence leaving a whole big enough for them to fit through. Janine went first and immediately crossed a path before climbing a ladder towards the spotlight. Clemont and Serena made their way across the path as well but hid by a wall waiting for the signal from Janine. Red went through before curling the fence back to make it look like there was no hole. He ran across towards the duo while he heard a slight thud from up the tower and a thumbs up from Janine. Janine released her Venomoth and silently made her way onto the roof of the barracks, while Red got a steed rod and jarred the door shut preventing anyone from getting out. Venomth released his Sleep Powder into the vent before being returned. Janine then ran across before dropping down in front of the door leading to the main building. The other three silently ran along the ground catching up to her before they all took a deep breath.

"So far so good" Janine commented. "Siren, would you please get the door?" She asked politely which Serena bowed to before pulling a pouch out of her pocket. She removed a lockpick and unlocked the door after a few wiggles. Clemont was about to make his way in but was held back by Red. "Ladies first" he said which confused Clemont. Janine and Serena nodded at each other before opening the door and they both launched karate chops to the side. Two grunts hit the floor unconscious. Clemont smiled at this before walking in and leading them to a large room where wires connected lots of machines to each others.

"Just to warn you, as soon as I begin an alarm is going to go off which we can't do anything about. You see they are going to try and delete all the information from here as soon as I begin hacking and I'm going to need to work quickly if I want to get anything" Clemont explained. Red sighed but nodded in response.

"We'll keep an eye out while you do your job" Red said. Clemont then pulled a laptop out of his back and connected it to a large console in front of him. He had been telling the truth because as soon as he did the alarm went off and Clemont began to tap the keys furiously.

A few minutes passed and not a single grunt turned up. "how's it going clement?" Janine shouted over the alarm.

"I'm trying I'm trying" he shouted back never turning.

"We've got incoming" Red said. Two grunts were charging down the corridor towards the end room where they were in, they both were wearing aprons so it was likely they came from the dining room. Red picked the first thing that came to hand which happened to be a disconnected hard drive, opening the door he threw it with such force that when it collided with one of the grunts head he collapsed to the floor unconscious. The other kept running at him but was brought down when he received a high kick from Serena to the face, blood poured out of his broken nose but Red smiled at the result.

"I've got what I can, let's get out of here" Clement shouted and he bagged his Laptop and began running back outside with the other three.

They made their way back going past the front of the barracks. Red understood why hardly anyone responded to the alarm, most had been asleep so the barracks floor was littered with sleeping grunts. They got out via the hole and ran back through the bushes towards where everyone else had returned. Everyone got into the van and it drove away as they made their break for freedom.

"So Clemont, were you able to get anything?" Lance asked sitting in the passenger seat while Koga drove. Everyone decided to listen to this conversation.

"The Server began to have its files deleted incredibly quickly, however I was able to get two encrypted files. One was quite a recent file while the other was buried deep within the server, buried under loads of data like somebody wanted it hidden but was too important to delete"

"Okay, do you know the name of the files?" Lance asked.

"The recent one is called Operation Divinity"

"And the other, hidden one?"

"Something known as Project Ascension..."

* * *

A.N: Apologies for the very late update, exams are beginning to take their toll. Thanks for waiting for this chapter and I can tell you now that the next chapter is going to be a bombshell of information to do with the story that will more than make up for any rubbish writing in this chapter. Until then Hakuna Matata.


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